From a big welcome bonus, to rewards on everyday spending, credits for airline fees and Uber rides, lounge access, hotel perks, and more, the Amex Platinum's offerings make it the premier travel rewards card.

Here's what you should do as soon as your new card arrives to activate your benefits and make sure you don't miss out on anything.

The card features a great welcome bonus for new applicants; 60,000 points when you spend $5,000 in the first three months. While that's a fairly high spend requirement, it could be worth opening the card if you have any large expenses coming up. The card also earns 5x points per dollar spent on airfare purchased directly from the airline or through Amex, and 1x point per dollar on everything else

In addition to the welcome bonus, the card's other benefits include statement credits for various travel services, access to more than 1,000 airport lounges, and benefits at a ton of different hotels.

Some of the card's benefits need to be activated before you can use them. To make sure you don't miss out, here's what you should do as soon as you get your Platinum card so that you can take advantage of all the perks and benefits, including those that helped me get more than $2,100 in value.

Choose your airline for the travel credit

One of the benefits that offsets the Amex Platinum's annual fee is a yearly $200 airline fee credit. Each calendar year, you can designate one airline on which you can get $200 of fees reimbursed. While the fee doesn't include tickets, it covers things like checked bags, flight-change fees, in-flight food and drinks, fees for traveling with a pet, lounge day passes (for lounges you don't already have access to), and sometimes things like seat assignments and extra legroom upgrade fees.

While it's not specifically allowed, you may even be able to purchase airline gift cards with the credit, which you can then use for ticket purchases. If you search online, you can see if this applies to your chosen airline — frequent-flyer message board FlyerTalk has a dedicated thread for each airline discussing how to use the credit.

The best part of the airline credit is that because you get it each calendar year, not cardmember year, you could get it twice in your first year of having the card.

If you opened the card in March, you can earn the full $200 credit before the calendar year ends. Then, once the credit resets on January 1, you can get it again before your next annual fee posts, meaning you can get up to $400 in value from this credit each year.

When you get your card, you can either call the number on the back or log in to your online account to designate your airline.

Add your card to your Uber account

The Amex Platinum offers cardholders up to $200 in Uber credits each cardmember year. This perk was added to the card last year.

The credit is broken into monthly chunks. At the start of each month, you'll get $15 of credits added to your Uber account, with a $20 bonus each December for a total of $35. Additionally, your account will be upgraded to Uber VIP status, which comes with a few perks, like the option to only request rides from top-rated drivers.

To get the credit, just add your new Platinum card to your Uber account as a payment method. You don't actually have to use the card to pay; as long as you have it stored in your account you'll get the credits and VIP status.

Sign up for gold elite status with Starwood, Marriott, and Hilton hotels

This is an excellent perk that can get you real value if you stay in hotels sometimes, but not often enough to qualify for the mid-tier gold level status.

Make sure you've signed up for loyalty accounts with each of the three hotel brands. Then, either call the number on the back of your Platinum card, or log in to your Amex online account. Enter your Starwood and Hilton account numbers to request gold status — it typically takes a day or two for the status to show up in your accounts.

Although Marriott gold isn't specifically offered by Amex, you can match your Marriott status level to whatever you hold with Starwood — this is because Starwood and Marriott are in the middle of a massive merger. Log in to either account and link it to the other, and the status match should happen quickly.

Elite status perks vary between the different brands and each individual hotel, but typically include things like early check-in and late check-out, room upgrades, hotel lounge access, extra loyalty points for every dollar spent, and free breakfast — that last one alone can be worth a ton and saved me about $280 on a recent trip.

Register with Boi ngo for free Wi-Fi

Boingo is a service that provides access to more than 1,000,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, including in airports, hotels, public parks and squares, and more. The Amex Platinum card comes with a complimentary Boingo Preferred membership, which you can activate by logging in to your Amex online account.

I figured I would never use this perk, but it turns out that it's been incredibly helpful. When I travel abroad, I'm surprised to see how many hotspots are Boingo participants, and it's great to have Wi-Fi in most US airport terminals, regardless of whether I'm in a lounge or not.

Sign up for rental car elite benefits

In addition to gold status at hotels, you can get elite status with several car rental agencies. When you get your Platinum card, log in online and request Avis Preferred, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, and National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive status — you'll just need to create accounts with those providers first. Benefits include things like car upgrades, guaranteed availability, and waived fees for additional drivers.

Apply for Global Entry and TSA PreCheck

TSA PreCheck is a program that lets members undergo an expedited security screening at airports. Instead of having to take off your shoes and light jacket, unpack laptops, tablets, and liquids from your hand luggage, and go through slow full-body scanners that created a bottleneck at the security checkpoint, PreCheck members can just put their bags through the x-ray machine, empty their pockets, and walk through a metal detector. It's a faster, easier process, and typically leads to shorter and quicker lines — the longest I've ever waited on a PreCheck line was about four minutes.

John Moore/Getty Images

You can pay an application fee of $85 for PreCheck, or you can pay an extra $15 to apply for Global Entry, which, if you're approved, includes PreCheck. Global Entry lets you use self-service kiosks at passport control and customs when you return from abroad, skipping the long, snaking lines that typically form in the border control halls.

The Amex Platinum offers a statement credit to cover either program's application fee. Fill out the application online and pay with your Platinum card. Then, make an appointment to have your fingerprints taken — after a background check, you'll be set to start using PreCheck.

Sign up for ShopRunner to get free two-day shipping

ShopRunner is like Amazon Prime for other retailers. With a ShopRunner account, you can get free two-day shipping from hundreds of participating online stores.

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